Photo Credit: Kylie Graham-Imagn Images
Kaleigh Kurtz made her National Women’s Soccer League debut on April 18, 2018, as a fill-in for Abby Dahlkemper. At the time, Dahlkemper held the league record for most consecutive games played, games started, and minutes played. Her absence that night against the Reign ended those streaks.
“I remember that whole week I was with the opposition scout [team], so I was pretending to be Seattle,” Kurtz said in a recent interview with The Equalizer. “The day before the game, Paul [Riley, Courage head coach] made anyone who wasn’t rostered do extra running on the side while the starters and a few others on the side did set pieces.”
It was a normal week for the then 23-year-old, undrafted free agent who was sitting behind two of the best central defenders in the world, Dahlkemper and Abby Erceg. Little did she know that Dahlkemper was going to miss the Reign match due to a clerical mistake involving use of a therapeutic drug. Riley called Kurtz at 3 o’clock on game day.
“He said, ‘Hey KK, how are you feeling?’ I said, ‘I’m feeling okay. A little tired from the sprints yesterday, but not too bad.’ He said, ‘Okay, good, because you’re in the starting lineup in four hours.’ So that was how I found out about my debut.”
The Courage beat the Reign 1-0 that night, and Riley named Kurtz the player of the match.
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